Perry, Kunitz help Ducks complete home-and-home sweep

LOS ANGELES (Ticker) -- The Anaheim Ducks are turning the newly
named "Freeway Face-Off" into a one-way street.

Corey Perry scored a pair of goals and set up another and Chris
Kunitz collected three assists as the Ducks rolled to a 6-3
victory over the Los Angeles Kings on Thursday.

Ryan Getzlaf and Rob Niedermayer each had a tally and an assist
for the defending Stanley Cup champions, who swept the
home-and-home series with the Kings and improved to 3-1-0 vs.
their Southern California rivals this season.

"They came back against us the other night and sent it into
overtime," Perry said. "We knew we had to come out in the third
and play a solid 20 minutes. They scored five in the third
against Dallas (on Saturday) and two against us a couple of
nights ago. We knew what they could do in the third."

Anaheim also raised its record against Los Angeles to 12-4-4
since the start of the 2005-06 campaign.

"Every game with them is a battle out there," Getzlaf said.
"It's a tough and fun game to play, and those are the ones you
want to play all the time."

After Dustin Brown scored on a turnaround shot from the bottom
of the left faceoff circle 12 minutes into the second period to
give Los Angeles a 2-1 lead, Anaheim took over, netting four
straight goals.

Perry began the outburst with his second of the game with 3:36
left in the middle session. After serving a boarding
infraction, the former first-round pick exited the penalty box,
received a pass from Kunitz at the Kings' blue line and skated
in alone on Jean-Sebastien Aubin before slipping the puck
between the goaltender's pads to forge a 2-2 tie.

"I jumped out of the box and Kunitz had the puck and I was
yelling for it," Perry said. "He laid it up there so it didn't
bounce, and I just went in and went five-hole."

The tally capped Perry's third two-goal performance of the
season, two of which have come against the Kings, and the fifth
of his career.

Getzlaf put the Ducks ahead for good at 2:08 of the third as he
was the last to touch the puck before it bounced between Aubin's
legs and into the net.

"They dominated most of the first half of the game," Getzlaf
said. "We came out and started playing and built around each
other. We were able to rally around each other and make some
big goals for our team. Everyone contributed, that was the
biggest thing."

Playing in his 900th career game, rugged forward Brad May made
it 3-1 with his second tally of the season, grabbing a rebound
in front and backhanding it past Aubin at 8:31.

"It was nice to be a part of (the offense)," the 35-year-old May
said. "Our team has to get contributions from everyone more
often. We played a terrible first period and were able to
respond and find ourselves. I'm sure LA is not happy with the
way things went, but for us, I think we figured something out."

Samuel Pahlsson, who was a finalist for the Selke Trophy last
campaign, buried a loose puck from the bottom of the right
circle midway through the session. After Patrick O'Sullivan
drew the Kings within 6-3 at 16:41, Niedermayer scored an
empty-netter in the final minute to seal the victory.

"It was a show of character on the team's part," Carlyle said.
"We got contributions from different guys."

"The third period was definitely the difference," Kings coach
Marc Crawford said. "When the game was on the line, you have to
be at your best, and they were. You have to give them credit."

Jean-Sebastien Giguere made 26 saves for Anaheim, which has won
three in a row overall and two straight on the road, improving
to 2-5-1 away from home this season.

"It's definitely something building," Perry said. "When you
start a streak and guys get more confidence and things start
going your way. That's what we have to keep working on, and
working on our game and winning on the road."

Anze Kopitar netted a power-play goal, Michael Cammalleri
notched a pair of assists and Aubin turned aside 26 shots for
the Kings, who have dropped four of their last six games.

"We have a good team in here that can compete against the top
teams in the league," Brown said. "It's just a matter of being
consistent, not only from game to game, but from the first
minute to the last minute of the game. Tonight, we weren't
consistent enough to sustain the pressure from them."

Kopitar started the scoring with 6:52 remaining in the first
period, receiving a pass from Cammalleri at the blue line,
skating through the left circle and firing the puck between
Giguere's pads for his eighth goal of the campaign.

"We were fortunate to get out of the first only down one goal,"
Carlyle said.